


Sitting on the Sea

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: Aftermath Chaos [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, I don't know I have no control over what I type, I still have no idea how to do tags, Lance had a girlfriend apparently, We find out what happened to Keith's flight group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-26 11:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9894692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: A life on the run, hiding near the beach, Lance gets his story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm gonna kill some of ya'll's fantasies about Texan Keith, cause we don't act like half that stuff I find on Tumblr, because what is wrong with ya'll? Non-Texan stereotypeing people.

“And you’re sure this is it?”

            “Of course it is!”

            “Well, you’re injured, and we can’t hope for your memory to be precise.”

            “This is it!”

            “But Lance… There’s nothing here.” They stood on a beach, the only thing nearby a closed snow-cone shop.

            “I called her, and she said to meet me here,” Lance insisted, “I’m not wrong!” Geeze, why couldn’t they just trust him? A girl’s head poked around the corner of the shop, and Lance’s eyes lit up. Yes! She _was_ here!”

            “See?!” She shook her head and motioned for them to hide. Lance immediately tugged them towards the water.

            “Lance, that won’t be good for your wound!”

            “Where else are we supposed to hide! You said it yourself, Shiro. There’s nothing here! Shiro eventually relented and they waded out into the waves, letting the water cover all but their heads. The girl ventured out onto open beach, and a car roared up.

            “Freeze!” She did. “We know you’ve been in contact with the criminal Lance McClain! We also know this is your meeting spot! You’ve been fraternizing with the public’s enemy, and will be treated as such!” Lance’s eyes widened, which he immediately regretted, as seawater splashed into them. Public enemy? What?

            “Get in the car, you’re under arrest! The girl reluctantly did so, casting a longing look at the ocean, and the car sped away again. The paladins floundered out of the waves.

            “What,” panted Keith, “was that?”

            “That,” Lance replied grimly, “Was the police arresting my ex.”

            Shiro paced in front of Lance, back at Keith’s hover bike. Lance leaned against the side of the warm engine, shivering a bit from the water. Quiznek, his shoulder hurt.

            “Who was that girl, and how do you know her?”

            “She was my girlfriend, Katherine. It didn’t work out, but we still stayed friends.” Hunk held up his hands.

            “Whoa, wait, hold up. Lance, you had a _girlfriend_?!”

            “Yeah, why are you acting so surprised? I try the hardest out of all of us, did you think I’d _never_ succeeded?” They all avoided looking at him.

            “Well, yeah. That’s kind of why we thought you flirted. Because you’d never had your heart truly broken.” Lance just stared at him.

            “Wow, thanks for you guys’ confidence in me, I feel accomplished.” Ouch. That hurt. Seriously, with all the work he put into flirting, they seriously thought _nobody_ had accepted it? Geeze. Did he have to announce it, like ‘hello, yes I flirt, yeah, I’ve dated before’?

            “Anyway, you were saying, Lance?” He shook himself.

            “Right, so, we’re friends, and I called her to see if we could hang low at her place until the castle is back from repairs. She said sure, but apparently they’re monitoring phone calls to friends as well, so, I’m out of ideas.”

            “Where even _are_ we?”

            “Corpus Christie! The only place in Texas with a decent beach!” Keith opened his mouth to argue that fact before abruptly shutting it. _Aw, yeah. Beat his argument before it even started._

            “Did you say Corpus?”

            “Yeah. Does that mean anything to you, cowboy?” Keith immediately jumped on his hover bike.

            “Everybody on! I know where we can go!” _Go figure, stealing my spotlight, Kogane._

            “Keith, where is this?”

            “Little house, just outside of Corpus. I know the owner. Chances are we _probably_ won’t get turned in.”

            “Probably?!” Keith rang the doorbell. Lance could hear music playing inside. Keith frowned and knocked loudly on the door.

            “Hey! It’s Keith!” The music abruptly stopped, there was a bang. The second floor window opened, a strangled shout sounded, and something flew out of the window. Keith ducked it, and it landed on Lance’s foot. He hopped up and down in pain. A wrench? Footsteps sounded down stairs. Loud footsteps. The door opened in a flash, and in a blur of movement, something seized Keith by the ear and dragged him in the house.

            “Ouch!” A brown haired girl in a crop top, capris and a bandanna was gripping Keith’s ear. Lance snorted at the expression on his face.

            “And the rest of you get in here too,” she shouted, “There are people looking for you, for goodness’ sake!”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, new character, I know, I just can't stop myself. Sorry. She's pretty cool, though. Also, so, apparently NASA does hide stuff from us, because when I was younger I had a friend who moved away, (We're still friends, by the way.) but apparently part of her dad's job was to hack NASA and make sure they aren't hiding things from the public, so guess who'll be the first to know when the Galra invade our solar system? This person!

“What are you _doing_ here, all of you! Why aren’t you in space, in your flying thing-a-ma-bob?!”

            “Leah,”

            “Don’t ‘Leah’ _me_ Kogane! Do you even have _any_ idea what happened to me after you got kicked out?”

            “Well…”

            “Yeah, I don’t think so.” Lance’s mind was still trying to keep up. Who was this girl? Why would it matter to her that Keith was kicked out? Unless…

            “Keith, was she an old girlfriend?! You sly dog!” Keith made a gagging snorting noise.

            “Girlfriend?!” Leah jumped about fifty feet away.

            “Oh, Quiznek, no, may my soul be saved from that horror!” Then her expression changed back to one of irritation. “Wait, you never even _mentioned_ me to _anyone_?!”

            “Nope,” Lance clarified, “Not even once. Who are you?” Ooo, she was pretty. And if she and Keith didn’t have a thing, well then. “I definitely would have thought you worth mentioning. I guess he wanted to keep all that beauty to himself.” Keith made the choked noise again, and Leah just stared.

            “No. Stop right there, I’m not interested. Don’t waste the time and effort. Sorry. Hello, I’m Leah. Nice to meet you. I was this idiot’s” she kicked Keith, “mechanic for his flight group, although apparently being in the same flight group for two years doesn’t make you worth mentioning. By the way, thank you for asking, Kogane, the whole flight group was expelled because they couldn’t find a pilot for us.”

            “Oh.” Pidge stepped up.

            “Sorry, that was slightly my fault. I kind of deliberately started a fight between him and Iverson.”

            “Hey, that’s okay, I’m not really mad at him for that _that_ much. Mostly I’m mad at him for _running off_ and not telling _anyone_ where he was going, and not _talking_ to me and _living by himself_ for a year in some hobo shack, and _never_ contacting me!”

            Lance tried again. “Hi, I’m Lance and-”

            “I know who you are. There were missing posters out for all of ya’ll.”

            “Great. Another ‘true’ Texan. Wait, we had missing posters?! That is so cool! Can I see mine?” Leah just stared.

            “Yeah. Sure.” She pulled out three posters, one with Lance, another with Hunk and the third with Pidge.

            “This is the coolest thing ever!”

            “You pilot giant magical robot lions through space, fighting aliens and _this_ is the coolest thing that you’ve seen?”

            “Well, yeah, but that became normal, this is something cool on earth! Wait, where’s Shiro’s? And Keith’s?”

            ‘Well, they didn’t want anyone to ask why they had a missing poster for someone who was supposed to be dead, did they?”

            “Mmm, I guess, but what about Keith?”

            “He had a wanted poster.”

            “No way! I _have_ to see that! Show me, show me please!”

            “You’re more excited about that than I am,” Keith observed drily, “and it’s _my_ poster.” Lance ignored him. Leah, sighed, smiling and shook her head, pulling out one last poster. Lance snatched it from her, took one look at it, and burst out laughing.

            “They make you look like some escaped convict arsonist. Is this really how you take your school photos?” Keith had his back to a wall, scowling at the camera.

            “Yes. Why?”

            “This is _not_ how most people take photos.” Keith sniffed.

            “I’m not most people.”

            “That’s for sure, you nutjob.”

            “Hey!” Shiro grabbed Keith’s arm before he could charge Lance. Lance just smirked, as annoyingly as he could. Ha. McClain, one, Kogane, zero.

            Lance sat up. Leah had sleeping bags, and all of them except Pidge were downstairs in the living room. Pidge was in Leah’s parent’s room, since they were on vacation. What was keeping him awake? Must be his stupid shoulder. He took off his shirt and slowly unwound the bandages. What was that light? The last of the bandages fell away, and Lance gasped softly. The hole in his shoulder was glowing with a purple light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo, mystery! Also, I found this on the internet, and nothing can convince me that it is not the Blade of Marmora's HQ on earth. Posting with the story. or not, because this thing is being stupid, but there is an actual street called Marmora


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so killing your Texas stereotypes. Also, Keith and Lance are going to be alone in a room together, and NOTHING romantic will happen, because they are brothers, not lovers. Seriously, they act exactly like me and my brother, and we are NOT dating or married. (Thank God)

“Hey, Keith, can I ask you something?” Lance hovered awkwardly in the doorway while Keith punched the stuffing out of Leah’s punching bag.

            “No.” Lance shoved ahead before he could stop himself.

            “Do you know- Wait. Did you say no?”

            “Yes.”

            “Why not?”

            “I’m busy. Come back when I’m not.” Lance pouted for a moment. Well, screw this.

            “Fine, I’ll just ask Leah if she’ll help me convince you-” Keith immediately stopped destroying the punching bag.

            “I’m not busy anymore.” Lance smirked. Oh, this changed _everything_. The mighty Keith Kogane was _scared_. Ha.

            “So, I was wondering, what does quintessence do if you’re injured?” Keith squinted at the space above Lance’s head.

            “I guess, well, when I got hit by druid magic, the quintessence healed the injury, so I guess it heals wounds, unless that’s like, a Galra thing.”

            “Yeah, but what if, say, I don’t know, a bullet was infused with quintessence, and it shot someone, what would that do?”

            “I don’t know. I guess it would either make it _way_ worse than a normal wound, or would heal it.”

            “You don’t think it could, hypothetically speaking, of course, make the wound, I don’t know, glow, or something?” Keith shrugged.

            “I don’t know. I’m hardly an expert on alien power sources.” He frowned. “Why?”

            “Oh, uh, no reason. Just wondering.”

            “That is some pretty deep thinking, coming from you.” Lance ducked his head. Quiznek. What was he supposed to say to that?

            “Yeah, I was wondering things like, ‘why do Texans say ya’ll,’ or ‘why is the sky blue, but my lion is the guardian of water,’ and then that floated in my mind, just randomly.” Keith glared at him suspiciously for a few minutes before apparently deciding that if anyone could jump from one of those trains of thought to the other in a moment, it was Lance. Lance wasn’t sure whether to feel insulted or flattered.

            “I don’t know about the sky-lion-thing, but not _everybody_ says ya’ll. Just most people.”

            “Another thing, why do people say ain’t. That’s not a word.”

            “Sure it is. If you can put ‘do’ and ‘not’ together to make ‘don’t’, why can’t you put ‘am’ and ‘not’ to make ‘ain’t’? It’s easier to say than amn’t.”

            “Y’ain’t.”

            “Oh, that’s not a word. ya'll is a word. Ain't is a word. Y'ain't is not.I have never said it, nor have I ever heard it said.”

            “Isn’t ‘all ya’ll’ kind of redundant? Like saying ‘all you all’?”

            “No, it’s saying ‘all of you all’. Like, ya’ll can refer to all of my friends in this room, while all ya’ll refers to everybody in the room. Any other Texas stereotypes you want to clear up while we’re at it?”

            “Horses.”

            “No, most people do _not_ own horses.”

            “Cowboy boots and hats.”

            “Do I _look_ like I’m wearing a cowboy hat and boots?

            “It’s all desert.”

            “No! Lance, we just went to a _beach_! And the areas near rivers are actually very nice.”

            “No cities; all farmland.”

            “We _just_ passed through Corpus! Have you _never_ heard of Houston, or Dallas, or San Antonio?”

            “You’re all rednecks with rifles.” Keith just snorted.

            “You should have seen me on Zarkon’s command ship. I hit the door more than I did the Galra.” Lance kept talking, and Keith kept getting more and more frustrated at his lack of knowledge because, ‘for goodness sake, if he had to learn about the battle of Concord, everybody else should have to learn about the Alamo.’ Lance was having such a fun time making him angry (he even turned purple at one point, to Lance’s great amusement), he almost forgot about the glowing wound in his shoulder. Almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another stereotype I didn't put in there; We all eat chicken-fried (insert meat here, I don't know all of them). No. We have tacos and stuff, we were part of Mexico for goodness' sake. Also, I have never shot a gun in my life; I have used throwing knives and ninja stars, but never a gun. And Texans can be Asian, so you can have Korean Keith. I have freaking Japanese cousins. Born and raised in Texas, all six of them. All ya'll need to stop yer Texas stereotypin', cause we ain't all white, chicken eatin, little rednecks, for goodness' sake, ya'll jest don' get it! I can go on this topic all, day, but I'm stopping now. And yeah, I talk like that when I'm arguing about a topic very close to my heart.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm done talking/pouting about Texas now.

“Hey Leah, how come the police are working with terrorist group?” Leah looked up from whatever she was fixing.

            “Hey, Lance, hold this for me.” She tossed a small metal cylinder at him and he caught it. And then it zapped him, and he dropped it.

            “Hey, don’t drop it of the floor! Pick it up!” Lance bent down and picked up the cylinder and it zapped him again.

            “Ouch!”

            “That’s an important piece of machinery, stop dropping it!” He tried again, and dropped it again. “What is wrong with you, Lance?!”

            “It keeps zapping me,” he cried, “I can’t help it!” Leah burst out laughing.

            “Oh, you should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless! Absolutely priceless. Here.” She picked up the cylinder and popped it back into place. “Yeah,” she continued, “I love doing that. That cylinder holds an electrical charge. When you touch it, it zaps you. I got Keith to pick it up forty-seven times before the electricity knocked him out because he kept his grip on it. It was pretty great.” She wiggled her gloved fingers at him. “Rubber. Keeps the electricity from hurting me. So, what do you want?”

            “How come the police are working with the terrorists?” She frowned.

            “What terrorists?”

            “You know, the ones after us!” She frowned.

            “Lance, no terrorists are after you. It’s just the government.” Lance felt like the floor was pulled out from under him.

            “You’re wanted criminals. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

           

“Okay, so, team, we need to clear everything up. We’re going to have to gather intelligence, probably start with the police station. Once we figure out what their charges are, we can figure out how to nullify them. So, who’s up for a little espionage?” The TV flicked on.

“Or you could watch the news,” Leah smirked. The leading headline was _Voltron: terrorists or victims?_ The reporters were debating whether the paladins were criminals working with aliens, or just affected by PTSD, and unstable because of their own experiences.

“I think they may have overreacted to gas leakage explosions, and they shouldn’t be hunted down. It isn’t their fault, and they should be given help, not be hunted like animals!”

“Yes, but they’re a danger to society, even if it is PTSD attacks behind this. They _do_ need to be taken into custody, for their own safety as well as the world’s.” The third reporter began his debate.

“But what about the point of aliens? They spent a year in space, two years in the case of Takeshi Shirogane, and had ample contact with aliens. They could be trying to lure earth into a trap for another planet’s species to take advantage.”

“But they saved the earth from the purple aliens!”

“That could’ve been a ploy. We don’t know for sure. And they attacked a government official-”

“Iverson was unstable, and unfit to lead. The Voltron paladins exposed him.”

“But look at other evidence against them. We found signs of a massive fight in an alleyway in a direction that several onlookers saw the Voltron paladins go. Self-defense, or did they go looking for a fight. The wrecking of the Holt home, and the destruction of a lab.”

“Self-defense! One of the paladins went to the hospital with a bullet wound!”

“But how do we know? They could be anarchists, and DNA tests have shown that at least one of them is alien.”

“Keith, please stop destroying my couch.”

“That is no reason to discriminate any more than blaming them based on the fact that one has Cuban origins, or Japanese origins.”

“ _Thank_ you!” Leah flipped channels.

“-And the president has indeed declared the paladins of Voltron to be enemies number one, as have the nations of the U.N.”

“What?!” Lance squinted at the president’s secretary.

“Leah, record this!” She glanced at him questioningly, but obeyed. “Okay, now pause and zoom on the president’s secretary! Zoom!” She did so. “Now, does that look like anyone we know to anyone else?” They all squinted at the screen. Shiro gasped.

“That’s Haggar! But I thought she died in the explosion!”

“Apparently not.” _And maybe she created that bullet, which is why the wound glows, like Shiro’s did!_

“Okay, so Haggar is behind most of this, which explains a few things. We were welcomed as heroes, but she wormed her way in and worked her lies so now we’re the bad guys. So. Take Haggar out, and we have a potential to end this.” Lance tried to listen, he was sure what Shiro was saying was important, but his mind couldn’t seem to focus. And everything was blurring. Why was everything blurring?

“Lance? Lance!” Pidge shook her teammate. What the… He was burning up from fever! How had… How long had he… “Shiro! Something’s wrong with Lance!” Shiro looked over at them and felt Lance’s forehead.

“He’s burning up!”

“Check the bullet wound. Now!” Shiro blinked confusedly at Keith before pulling down Lance’s shirt and unwrapping the bandages. A flash of blinding purple light. What in the universe… This was even worse than Shiro’s wound, his hadn’t been this brightly glowing, what was happening?

“Keith, how did you know…”

“He was asking about quintessence, asking what would happen if a bullet was infused with it, would it start to glow, that kind of thing.” He put his head in his hands, clearly upset. “I… I should’ve noticed something was up, I should’ve pressed harder, and now…”

“Keith, that’s ridiculous! You couldn’t’ve possibly known that this would happen!”

“But I should’ve been able to tell! I should notice when a team member is in pain! What kind of a leader am I if I can’t even do that?” Shiro put a hand on his shoulder.

“Keith, it’s okay, I’m here now, you don’t have to take that responsibility anymore. But for now we need to take care of Lance, okay? Now, what’s the basic thing to do for someone with a fever?”

“Keep them warm, but keep them hydrated and their head cool. Let them sweat it out.” Pidge could see what Shiro was doing. He was keeping Keith busy to keep his mind clear. From what she’d heard, it was the same thing Keith had done for Hunk when Lance had gotten shot. Fate had a sick sense of humor. Leah came in with a giant stack of blankets.

“Okay, I’m sure this is enough, I’ve never treated a sick person before, but what’re we going to do about the glowing wound? That’s what’s causing this, right?”

“Yeah. How long before the castle comes back?”

“Still another week.”

“Right, no help there.”

“I’m making some calls.”

“Leah, no, we can’t call the ambulance, we’ll all get arrested!”

Leah smirked. “Good thing I wasn’t planning on calling an ambulance, then. No, I’m calling the next best thing besides your ship.” She left the room, while Pidge applied cool washcloths to Lance’s forehead. What could she possibly mean?

“Please don’t die, Lance. Please?”

______________________

 

“Help has arrived! Everybody, I want you to meet my friend Tiana! She’s an expert in this kind of thing.” Another girl entered behind Leah. She was humanoid, but… Her skin was blue! Her hair was white, and when she smiled, her teeth were pointy. Keith had his sword out in an instant.

“You brought an alien?! We can’t trust her!” Tiana hid behind Leah.

“Hey, don’t yell, she’s shy. And if an alien caused this, an alien should be able to fix this! She’s a good friend of mine, and she won’t harm anyone in need.”

“I don’t trust her. She’ll probably make it worse on purpose!

“Why do you think that?!”

“Because she’s an alien!”

“Just like you, Keith Kogane, but your teammates trust you.” Keith jumped at the gravelly, soft voice of the alien. He guiltily subsided.

“Ok, fine, I guess, but if she looks like she’ll hurt him…”

“I understand. You are concerned for your friend. I would be too. But I promise I won’t hurt him. On my honor. Now, where is your friend?” She was led into the living room, where she clucked at the sight of Lance. “Ah, that does not look good. The work of a druid. I will see.” She peeled back the covers.

“You did the right thing. If this were not magically caused, he would’ve sweated it out.” She opened the little bag she carried around and pulled out a salve, which she applied to his shoulder. It steamed and evaporated. She gasped. “This… This is very bad. This is the kind of thing a druid must undo. I can prolong the deadline, but I cannot stop it. He needs food, real food, not fast food.”

“On it.” Hunk raced to the kitchen. Tiana began to sing softly, putting her hand on the wound. She started to glow slightly and her hair shimmered all the colors of the rainbow, rising into the air before returning to its bleached state and settling back down on her shoulders. She pulled away from Lance, clearly drained. His wound was still glowing, but not as fiercely as before. Pidge stared.

“How… How did you do that?!”

“Tiana crash-landed on this planet as a baby, but her race has advanced abilities to heal themselves. She can take some of the sickness of others and burn it very quickly, but it uses tons of energy and her own healing abilities. I saw her heal someone with cancer once.” Now that she was done healing, Tiana seemed to be shy. She smiled and headed to the kitchen to check on Hunk. Pidge covered Lance back up.

 Shiro stood. “I thought we would have to wait and plan for this, but we need to take action. With Allura and Coran not due for another week, we can’t wait for them to help Lance. We’re going to have to get Haggar.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so now they're going after Haggar. Yay, I was just trying to move the plot along.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey, Kaltenecker, come here, boy.” Pidge looked at the delirious Lance. Uh-oh. He was talking about his cow. That couldn’t possibly be good.

“Kaltenecker is a girl.” Lance giggled loopily.

“Nope, he’s got horns, definitely a guy, Kogane. He’s my cow, you can’t tell me what gender he is!”

“Keith, leave him alone, stop messing with him, he’s delirious.”

“Lance, all cows are girls.”

“No they’re not, they can’t reproduce if they’re all girls!”

“No, cows are girls, bulls are boys. They’re all cattle. Learn your livestock.”

“Well, he’s a bull, then.”

“Lance, she has udders.”

“But he’s got horns!”

“Lance, all cattle have horns. He’s a she.”

“Keith, leave him alone!”

“If he’s engaging is slightly logical conversation, that’s a good thing, right?”

“He needs to rest!”  
“Fine, fine.” Pidge applied another cool cloth to Lance’s head, wincing at the heat.

“I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but so do I, Pidge. So do I.”

__________________

“Alright, team, we need to get in fast, strike quickly and get out fast. Pidge, I need you to

open doors for us. Hunk, Keith, you two are with me. Once you have all the systems shut down you’re going to join us, alright, Pidge? We’re going to find Haggar, kidnap her if we can, kill her if we can’t. Got it?” Everybody nodded. Keith’s hover bike had gotten them up here remarkably fast. DC in two hours from Corpus. “Alright. Go!” Hunk fired his bayard on stun and took out the security guards. The gate opened for them, and they squeezed inside.

_____________________________

           

“Mom? Dad? Where are you?” Leah bit her lip as she observed the sick blue paladin. What was she supposed to do?

            “Shh. It’s okay Lance, I’ll take care of you.”

_________________

 

            “Go!” Keith charged down the hallway, closely followed by Shiro, Hunk and Pidge, who had shut down every security system. They charged around a corner and were met by men with guns.

            “Please stand down. We don’t want to hurt you, but will shoot if necessary.”

            “This is for the good of the world, now move!”

            “Sir, there’s nothing left to fight, just come with us, you’re not well.” Keith charged them, running in zigzag patterns to avoid bullets. Hunk covered him with heavy fire and Shiro joined Keith’s headlong charge. They were fighting as a team, Pidge using the grappling function of her bayard to taser people from a distance. Soon everybody was unconscious on the floor. Except for one man, but they didn’t see him. Until he accidentally fired his gun directly at Pidge. Keith roared and knocked the man out with the flat of his blade. He had heard Shiro shout, and was Pidge… crying?

            “No! Shiro!” Keith raced to the black paladin’s side.

            “Why, why?! Why’d you get in the way?” The bullet had hit him right in the stomach.

            Shiro laughed bitterly before coughing. “Good thing you’re so short Pidge. Otherwise it might have hit me fatally.”

            “Shiro, hang on, we’ll get you help, just stay with us.”

            “No…no time. Keith?”

            “I’m here, Shiro, I’m here.”

            “Finish the mission. Get help for Lance, no matter the cost. Even if it means you leave me to die. And get them out safely. Get Hunk and Pidge out of here. Promise me, Keith!”

            “I promise. I promise you Shiro.”

            “Good. Okay.” Shiro laid back, his eyes closing. “I knew I could count on you.” Keith stood up. It was time to be the leader again.”

            “Hunk, get Shiro out. Get him to the hover bike and get back to Leah’s. I’ll call to tell her what’s going on, and to get Tiana.

            “It took us two hours to get here, I don’t think he has much time!”

            “Hunk, on the bike, there’s a big yellow button. It’ll make the bike go much, much faster. I never used it because I was scared it would burn the bike out when I stopped, but this is an emergency. Pidge, you come with me. We are going to finish this mission.”

           

            “I see. The half-breed and the pipsqueak, here to finish me off. Well, get on with it!” Neither of them moved. Haggar laughed. “Oh, I see. Your precious princess and castle aren’t going to be back in time, are they? You need me to heal your friend. Well, this is interesting.”

            “Just give us the cure!” Haggar laughed again.

            “I don’t see why I should. You’ll just kill me when I do.” Pidge growled and attempted to attack her, but Keith held her back.

            “Fine. An exchange. Give Pidge the antidote, and I,” he swallowed, “will stay here with you. I won’t try to escape; you can have me.”

            “Keith, what’re you doing!” Keith turned to face her. What was the idiot thinking?!

            “Pidge, we have to get that antidote. And if that means I stay here, so be it. It’s my decision.”

“What? No, you have to come back, we can’t leave you here, Quiznek, let me stay here instead!”

“I can’t; I promised Shiro. And even if I hadn’t promised him, I’m the team leader right now. This is my sacrifice.”

“This is stupid!”

“As touching as this is, I need an answer here.”

“Give Pidge the antidote. Pidge, none of you can try to rescue me, alright?”

“Why not?!”

“Because that would break the agreement, and I refuse to stoop to _her_ level.”

“Ouch, that hurts.”

“Stop acting like a human; just because you look like one doesn’t mean you are one. Promise me Pidge! And Hunk or Shiro or Lance can’t either. Or Leah, because I’m sure she will, just to yell at me.”

“But-”

“Promise me Pidge!” Pidge hesitated.

“Fine. I won’t, and none of the others will either. Happy?” Haggar pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and tossed it to Pidge.

“Fine. Pour it on his wound, he should be fine.” Keith handed her an airline ticket. Haggar frowned. “That’s mine.”

“Hers now. Get out of here, Pidge. Now!” Pidge nodded and ran, tears streaming down her face. Was she going to lose her whole family today? She barely made the flight, but she managed to bypass security and watched DC fade away from the window of her seat. Then she realized there was something in her pocket. What the… She pulled out Keith’s knife. On it in Sharpie were two words in Keith’s handwriting: Pick up.

Her phone rang, and the meaning of the message became perfectly clear. Oh, that was clever. Now she just needed to get into the news feed.

____________________

 

Lance sat up, feeling like his head had been lit on fire while the rest of his body was dunked in ice. Leah shouted to the others and they all rushed over, except Shiro and Keith. Where were they? And who was the blue alien? Well, she was kind of hot in a blue-skinned, white-haired, pointy-teethed way.

“Hey, I’m Lance. What should I call you, other than beautiful?” Hunk, Pidge and Leah all groaned, while the alien blushed and moved away. Yeah, probably not his best line. “What happened? And where are Shiro and Keith?”

_____________________

“Got it! Leah, turn on the TV!” Leah frowned.

“Now isn’t exactly the time to watch TV, Pidge.”

“Just do it!” The television flickered to life and a picture of Haggar compared to a picture of the president’s secretary was the only thing showing, while Keith’s voice played in the background.

“So, Ms. Secretary, huh?”

Haggar’s voiced hissed on. “Yes. I clawed my way to the top.”

“But just because you’re the secretary of the president, that doesn’t mean you get the power to declare us public enemy number one!”

“The president is under my control. He has no free will, I have control of his mind!”

“And the minds of the U.N.?”

“Yes. I didn’t want you to travel to another country, after all.”

“An alien in charge of the world, huh.”

“Yes. And when the rest of your friends are mine, I will take great delight in killing you all. Then I will conquer the universe, without Voltron in my way!” Lance grinned. That sly little Texan alien had saved him and the world at the same time. And he had thought that Keith couldn’t be subtle.

“Okay, well, I guess the public won’t be too happy to hear that.”

“That’s why the public won’t hear about it.”

“Too late.”

Haggar roared. “You _filthy_ half-breed!” Then there was the sound of the phone splintering, and then Pidge’s voice came on.

“Are you going to let her get away with this?! She’s taken over our governments, and has a hero of the universe in her claws! No decent person would just let this happen! We have to fight back, or aliens will take over our planet, and humanity will be destroyed!” Then the whole thing started over. Pidge had done a good job in her speech, appealing to their decency, calling Keith a hero. There was absolutely no way anybody was going to stand for this.

After a while the video stopped playing and the newsfeed showed images of mobs surging into the White House, security searching for Haggar, the president blinking and coming to himself. It was one of the most beautiful things Lance had ever seen. Shiro sat up, eyes shining.

“He did it. Him and Pidge. We’re all going to do just fine now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww, look at clever Keith. One more chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this just kind of popped into my head and I said why not.

“Hey man. Me and Hunk are going into town. Guy team bonding time. Wanna come?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because your version of ‘going into town’ is ‘flirting with any female in sight.’ And I do not want to watch that.”

“C’mon, Keith, we need a designated driver!”

“You’re not even old enough to drink.”

“This is Texas, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“You can drink if your parent gives permission, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Excellent, we’re taking Shiro.” Lance watched Keith roll his eyes and huff but eventually agreeing. Time to have some fun! They’d earned it right? They’d defeated the Galra, the world was safe, and it was time to have some fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> World is safe. ha, ha, sorry, Lance. I still have to write a fic about Shiro, after all. Also, I'm working on a quiz for which of my OCs you are/What do the paladins think of you. I'll have a hyperlink somewhere in the next fic.


End file.
